The Georgia High School Association has postponed the State Duals Championships until Feb. 25-26 due to road conditions throughout the state.
The tournament, which was to include all five classifications, was scheduled for this Friday and Saturday in Macon. The new date is one week following the traditional state tournament in Gwinnett County. The GHSA said in a statement Wednesday that the duals tournament will not have a centralized location. What that means is still very much up for debate. At least, according to one area coach, the duals will still be held.
“I heard that outright cancellation of the duals was considered,” Sonoraville coach Eric Elrod said. “I couldn’t believe that was even an option and I think enough people gave their opinion of, ‘Let’s just find a way to make it happen. ‘”
Elrod said he heard other options that were floated around included holding the tournament next Monday and Tuesday or next weekend, but there was not a location agreeable to the teams involved. There were also numerous tournaments programs were committed to.
“They didn’t want to interfere with schools that had tournaments scheduled,” said Elrod, whose Class AA and second-seeded Sonoraville team joins Calhoun, Heritage and Gordon Lee in the duals field. “I think the state tournament should have taken precedence.”
It’s possible five separate tournaments will be held, one for each classification. If that’s so, Elrod hopes that if the GHSA decides to let schools host the tournaments the ruling body will open up bidding for the right.
Heritage coach Kenny Hill believes high school gyms should be ruled out.
“I hope they don’t send it to high school gym,” he said. ” I just don’t see a high school being able to hold 16 teams, fans and wrestlers.”
Hill believes a perfect site would be the Rome Coliseum, an idea several north Georgia coaches are backing.
“You could probably put a couple of classes in there,” Hill said. “Rome is sort of centrally located, and some of the people I’ve talked to today think it would work. We may not hear anything for a few days. I think they’re going to look at it and take some advice from people and go from there.”